Busy Black Hole

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August 11, 2010

An artist's concept shows the supermassive black hole in the heart of M87, a giant galaxy in the constellation Virgo. The black hole is in the center of the orange disk. The disk itself is made of hot gas spiraling into the black hole. Powerful magnetic fields funnel some of the particles in the disk into jets (left and right of the disk) that extend hundreds of thousands of light-years into space. As the particles spiral through the magnetic fields, they emit radio waves. Recent research suggests that the black hole may be slight off-center. [Bill Saxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF]